Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Arts & Culture
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Arts & Culture

Humanities Center Examines Continued Relevance of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ March 9

Friday, March 4, 2016, By Rob Enslin
Share
College of Visual and Performing Arts

The Humanities Center in the College of Arts and Sciences continues its spring series with a discussion about the ongoing relevance of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” as a novel, play and film.

Kevin Maillard

Kevin Maillard

On Wednesday, March 9, Kevin Maillard, a professor in the College of Law, will present “To Kill a Mockingbird: From Jim Crow to Black Lives Matter” at 2 p.m. in Archbold Theatre at Syracuse Stage (820 East Genesee St.) The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call the Humanities Center at 315-443-7192.

Immediately following the event is a 3 p.m. performance of the Syracuse Stage production of “To Kill a Mockingbird.” The matinee is open to the public; however, tickets are required. To purchase tickets ($30-$48 for adults and $18 for children), call the Syracuse Stage Box Office at 315-443-3275 or visit http://syracusestage.org.

The discussion is organized by Syracuse Stage, whose critically acclaimed production of “To Kill a Mockingbird” runs through Saturday, March 26.

“We are honored to partner with Syracuse Stage and Professor Maillard, who studies several of the key issues in Harper Lee’s iconic novel—issues such as race, sex, power and justice,” says Vivian May, director of the Humanities Center and associate professor of women’s and gender studies. “This discussion and Syracuse Stage’s production are timely and relevant. The fight for civil rights continues, and the arts are pivotal for engaging these questions and confronting inequality.”

The event follows the publication of “Go Set a Watchman” (Harper, 2015), Lee’s only other book and a kind of prequel to the original novel, and the author’s death last month at the age of 89.

Published in 1960, “To Kill a Mockingbird” deals with racial injustice in a fictitious Southern town. The book won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction the following year, turning the normally elusive author into a reluctant celebrity, and went on to sell more than 40 million copies.

The book’s success was reinforced by a popular 1962 film version, starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch, the small-town Southern lawyer who defends a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman.

In 1991, Christopher Sergel published a stage adaptation that took more than 20 years to write, and that he continued to revise up until his death two years later. His adaptation is directed here by Timothy Bond, producing artistic director of Syracuse Stage.

A scene from the Syracuse Stage production of "To Kill a Mockingbird" (Photo by Mike Davis)

A scene from the Syracuse Stage production of “To Kill a Mockingbird” (Photo by Mike Davis)

“It’s a classic story of finding courage and pursuing justice,” says May, noting that the production opened a week after Lee’s death. “Within a portrait of small-town life during the Depression, we are offered a sobering look at Jim Crow race relations in the Deep South. This story remains germane to countless aspects of our current reality, as a community and as a nation.”

She credits Kyle Bass, who is introducing Maillard on March 9, for curating Syracuse Stage’s popular Wednesday@1 Lecture series, of which this event is a part. Bass is a drama instructor in the University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts and is Syracuse Stage’s resident dramaturg.

Maillard is an expert in family law, Constitutional law, and popular culture. He is a frequent contributor to The New York Times and The Atlantic, and is co-editor of “Loving v. Virginia in a Post-Racial World” (Cambridge University Press, 2012). He earned a Ph.D. in political theory from The University of Michigan.

 

  • Author

Rob Enslin

  • Recent
  • Student’s Mobile Upcycled Clothing Business Turns Trash Into Treasures
    Friday, August 22, 2025, By Diane Stirling
  • Q&A for “Will Work for Food,” a new book exploring labor and the food chain
    Friday, August 22, 2025, By Ellen Mbuqe
  • Chaz Barracks Fuses Art, Scholarship and Community in Summer Residency
    Thursday, August 21, 2025, By News Staff
  • Welcome Week 2025: What You Need to Know
    Tuesday, August 19, 2025, By Kathleen Haley
  • How Otto the Orange Spent Their Summer Vacation (Video)
    Tuesday, August 19, 2025, By News Staff

More In Arts & Culture

Syracuse Stage Announces Auditions for 2025-26 Theatre for the Very Young Production ‘Tiny Martians, Big Emotions’

Syracuse Stage is seeking non-equity actors to audition for the Theatre for the Very Young production of “Tiny Martians, Big Emotions,” conceived and directed by Kate Laissle. The show is a touring educational program as part of the company’s 2025-26…

Art Museum Launches Fall 2025 Season With Dynamic, Interdisciplinary Exhibitions

The Syracuse University Art Museum kicks off its fall season on Aug. 26 with four new exhibitions that reflect the museum’s mission to foster diverse and inclusive perspectives and unite students across disciplines with the local and global community. From…

How Artists Are Embracing Artificial Intelligence to Create Works of Art

Artists have always embraced new technologies to push the boundaries of their creations—balancing imagination and authenticity with innovation. Artificial intelligence (AI) is no different, says Rebecca Xu, professor of computer art and animation in the Department of Film and Media…

Art Museum Faculty Fellows Leverage Collections to Enhance Teaching

Four faculty members have been named Syracuse University Art Museum Faculty Fellows for the 2025-26 academic year. The fellows program, now in its fourth year, supports innovative curriculum development and the fuller integration of the museum’s collection in University instruction….

Syracuse Stage Announces Cast and Production Team of Musical ‘The Hello Girls’

Syracuse Stage announced an exciting new cast and creative team for “The Hello Girls,” with music and lyrics by Peter Mills and book by Peter Mills and Cara Reichel. Featuring fresh orchestrations, new staging and reworked material, this new production…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2025 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.